Happy Wanderers Paphos 

We’re Celebrating. The Happy Wanderers are 30!

The Happy Wanderers walking group began with an idea at the UKCA (United Kingdom Citizens Abroad) in January 1995 and a meeting was held at a taverna in Drouseia Square, attended by 16 interested people, who decided to form a walking group called “The Happy Wanderers Paphos” with the aim of organising one walk per week anywhere in the Paphos District. Among those attending were: Vivy Symonds, George and Pat Bates, Tony Moy, Maureen Moeton and Maurice Thompson.This was accomplished, the first official walk of the newly formed group being at Lysos. The walks would be on a Wednesday, which at that time was half day closing, would start at 10am, and would cover a distance of up to 8 miles (rather arbitrary as there were no smart phones with appropriate apps or GPS handsets). The walks would have a picnic lunch and were aimed to finish by 3pm. After each walk the group would visit a local taverna or coffee shop for refreshments and as a thank you to the local people for allowing the group to walk in their area. 

That year Vivy Symonds was chosen as group leader, assisted by George and Pat Bates.  It was a wet day but the intrepid group then walked to Inia before returning to the same taverna for a village meze.

There are few existing photos of the group at that time as cameras were an extra weight to be carried – no mobile phones! One photo from the 90s shows the group meeting outside Perekles Taverna in Nata before a walk.

The Happy Wanderers flourished and a competition was held to design a logo for the group. That logo is still in use today.

Whilst the Happy Wanderers were under the UKCA banner full membership of the group was only available to UKCA members holding a British passport, so on, Tuesday, November 7^th 2006, an EGM was held, and those present voted to become independent of the UKCA. On Tuesday, 30^th January 2007 the first AGM was held. In those early days the Wanderers had to obtain a Government permit in order to meet, and walk, as an organized group. 

We now have walkers of at least 12 nationalities and have had to put a cap on the number of actively walking members on the grounds of safety.

In 2020 we became part of the Paphos Third Age (P3A). Today we have around 90 actively walking members, although some are “swallows” who walk whenever they are on the Island. We offer 3 different length walks so that different abilities are catered for, around 6, 8 and 10 miles (9.5, 13 and 16 kilometers). As well as getting exercise we chat, learn about the flora and fauna, investigate the history and culture of Cyprus in times past, and make new friends.

Our website gets hits from all over the world, and the “Members only” section contains a library of past walks, and tutorials on how to use a GPS, as well as Apps such as MapMyWalk and Maps.Me.

Some memorable moments through our website since 2020 (www.happywandererspaphos.org):

• Being asked to assist with planning a walk along the E4 from Cape Grecko to Fontana Amorosa.
• Reuniting hearing aids lost by a holiday maker at Paphos Airport with their owner in Scotland.
• Suggesting venues for filming to “A Place in the Sun”, and recording a short segment for one of their programs to be shown in the series to be screened from December 2025.
• Assisting the Paphos Marathon by manning a refreshment stage.
• Assisting a walking group from Colorado plan a week’s walking holiday in Cyprus.

If any P3A member, with proper hiking footwear, is interested in joining a walking group, then we would like to invite you to walk with us as a guest on 3 separate occasions so that you can decide if we are the group for you. grouphwpaphos@gmail.com. The walking program is available on our website.